Hanoi (VNA) – 2023 is a successfulyear for tourism sector with a large number of visitors and enhanced reputationin the world arena, according to insiders.

The goal for foreign arrivals in 2023 was adjusted from 8million to 12.5-13 million right after 10 months.

Tourism experts attributed the results to strong effortsfrom all stakeholders, especially the Government.

This year, for the first time, a Prime Minister chaired national conferences on tourism development, on March 15 and November15.

In May, the Prime Minister issued a resolution on speedingup tourism recovery and development in an effective and sustainable manner.Three months later, the Government issued two more resolutions on grantinge-visa and increasing the temporary stay to 45 days for citizens of 13countries that are unilaterally exempted from visas.

Right from the beginning of the year, localities haveactively implemented tourism promotion programmes as well as cultural and sportsactivities to encourage travelling activities, while introducing new products to lure more international tourists. Notably, Hanoi has for the firsttime launched 15 night-time tourism products.

As a result, after 11 months, Vietnam welcomed more than 11.2million foreign visitors, 3.8 times higher than that in the same period of2022. The number of domestic tourists also reached 103.2 million, while total revenuefrom tourism hit 628.2 trillion VND (25.76 billion USD). In November alone, thecountry saw a month-on-month surge of 58.5% in the number of visitors from Europe.

The last month of the year with many big festive events isalso expected to see a breakthrough for Vietnamese tourism.

In the year, Vietnam's tourism has been highly evaluatedinternationally, receiving many awards from the World Travel Awards, includingthe World’s Leading Heritage Destination 2023 for the fourth time and Asia’s LeadingDestination.

Many localities of Vietnam have also been honoured. Notably,the capital city of Hanoi won the “Asia's Leading City Destination 2023” and "Asia's Leading City Break Destination 2023” awards. Meanwhile Ho Chi Minh Citywon “Asia’s Leading Business Travel Destination” and “Asia's Leading Festival& Event Destination 2023” awards.

At the same time, Hoi An was honoured as Asia's LeadingCultural City Destination 2023, while Moc Chau was named Asia’s LeadingRegional Nature Destination 2023. Phu Quoc Island won the "Asia's Leading Luxury IslandTourism Destination 2023" award. The northernmost border province of HaGiang for the first time won the title of “Asia’s Leading Emerging TourismDestination”. Northern Ha Nam province received the award for “Asia's LeadingRegional Cultural Destination 2023” for the first time.

Travel Lemming - an online travel guide website, has placedVietnam's pearl island of Phu Quoc in the sixth position in the top 50 touristdestinations in 2024. The US’s Travel Off Path website has also run an articlestating why Vietnam is increasingly becoming a favourite destination for digitalnomads with its open visa policy.

However, the year has also left many lessons for thetourism sector of Vietnam, including that on calculation and setting ofspecific targets in tourist number in specific periods.

Many tourism experts held that the sector should set a highgoal in the number of foreign arrivals in 2024, suggesting it at 17-18million.

Setting a high target is also a way to prompt localities totake actions right from the beginning of the year, creating new opportunitiesfor the industry to grow, they underscored./.